22 August 2013

Clothing of the Working Class: The Cutler

Another one from Walker's 1814 Costume of Yorkshire. Here we're looking at craftsmen practicing a skilled labor. The man at the center is wearing a shirt, a waistcoat, breeches, stockings, shoes, a knit hat, and a cravat. His apprentices are similarly dressed, with the addition of aprons and varying headgear. It's worth noting that the waistcoat depicted is of a slightly older style (the bottom is not squared off like a fashionable one would be) and the breeches are old-fashioned at this point except for leather ones worn for riding.

This is obviously a workroom/studio. No doubt the master cutler would slip on his coat before entering the shop proper (assuming he also had his own shop and wasn't employed by someone else to create stock.